Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre

Buku-Larrnggay means the feeling on your face as it is struck by the first rays of the sun - indicating that we are in the most easterly place in the Top End of Australia - Miwatj or the Sunrise country. Mulka is a sacred but public ceremony. It also means to hold or protect. Thus we are the Northeast Arnhem Land cultural centre and keeping place. Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre has a long and proud history as one of Australia's premier art centres and Indigenous culture strongholds. The artists of the Centre have established a worldwide reputation for excellence, having won many of Australia's major Indigenous art prizes.

The sacred art of this region details the spiritual forces behind the creation and continuing identity of the fresh and saltwater country of the Miwatj region of north-eastern Arnhem land. Miwatj means 'morning side' and refers to the fact that this is the most easterly part of the Top End.

Buku-Larrnggay Mulka supplies individuals and high range retail outlets nationally and internationally with small carvings, weavings, jewellery and bark paintings. It shows solo and group exhibitions with prestigious private galleries worldwide. The Centre is known worldwide as a premier source of the best and most authentic yidaki (didjeridus). This web site offers specific artworks, yidaki and limited edition prints for sale.

The People

The Yolngu people are all capable of expressing their sacred identity through art and the artists who work through the Centre are men and women of all ages. The art and craft of Buku-Larrnggay Mulka is drawn from Yirrkala and the approximately 25 homeland centres within a radius of 200km - the geographical area is known as the Miwatj region. Miwatj means 'morning side' and refers to the fact that it is the most eastern part of the Top End. The major clans of the Miwatj are; Gumatj, Rirratjingu, Djapu, Manggalili, Marrakulu, Madarrpa, Gälpu, Dhalwangu, Dätiwuy, Ngaymil, Djarrwark, Djambarrpuyngu, Wangurri, Warramiri, Dhudi-Djapu, Gupapuyngu and Munyuku.

History and Significance

An old photo!The art of the Yirrkala region has been developing an appreciative audience since the township was founded as a mission in 1935. Work from Yirrkala was amongst the earliest commercial Aboriginal art marketed by Methodist Overseas Mission. There is strong evidence to suggest that the art emerging from Yirrkala in the mid 1950s was a catalyst in the non-Aboriginal art world's realisation that Indigenous Australian art is a unique and profound independent art tradition - the equal of any other global form. Further, the artists of Yirrkala were amongst the first Indigenous Australians to recognise the potential use of visual art as a political tool and put this into practice with the now famous Yirrkala Church Panels (on display in our museum) and Bark Petition (currently on display at Parliament House in Canberra) dating from 1963.

When government policy shifted and self-determination came to communities in Arnhem Land, the artists saw the establishment of a community controlled art centre as critically important to further their economic independence, cultural security over sacred designs, and to maintain political and intellectual sovereignty.

Culture and Environment

YalangbaraLike the whole of Creation from the planet Venus to the larvae of the horned beetle (be it a species of plant, animal, fish, bird or any place or person) all things belong to one of the two balancing halves of the world (moieties); Yirritja or Dhuwa. The sacred art of this region details the spiritual forces behind the ongoing Creation and continuing identity of the fresh and saltwater country of the Miwatj region - a very special part of Australia. The coastline and hinterland are largely unspoilt and still managed by the traditional owners, the Yolngu. The ecosystems of both the land and sea are pristine and provide abundant food subject to the season including yams, fruits, fish, kangaroo, wallaby, turtles and their eggs, dugong, emu, crayfish, oysters, mussels, tortoise, stingray, honey and more. These foods and the land that supports them are a seamless part of the wholistic Creation celebrated and maintained by almost continuous ceremonial activity. There is a constant interplay between the Law, the Land, the art of the Yolngu, their ceremony and lifestyle.